Indonesia Plane Carrying Dozens Plunges Into Sea

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News

(Worthy News) – A passenger plane carrying dozens of passengers plunged into the Java Sea after leaving the Indonesian capital, investigators suggested.

The Sriwijaya Air Boeing 737-500 with some 62 people on board lost contact with air traffic controllers after taking off from Jakarta.

The Indonesian Transportation Ministry said the aircraft left Jakarta at about 1:56 p.m. and lost contact with the control tower at 2:40 p.m. local time.

In published remarks, the airline explained that the plane was on an estimated 90-minute flight from Jakarta to Pontianak, the capital of West Kalimantan province on Indonesia’s Borneo island. There were 56 passengers and six crew members on board.

A plane flying from Jakarta to Pontianak would spend most of the flight over the Java Sea. Photos obtained by Worthy News showed a man in a boat holding a small wreckage piece of what was believed to be the Boeing 737-500.

Indonesian authorities said a search and rescue operation was underway in coordination with the National Search and Rescue Agency and the National Transportation Safety Committee.

The incident underscored concerns about transport accidents in Indonesia, the world’s largest archipelago nation, with more than 260 million people. It has been plagued by accidents on land, sea, and air because of overcrowding on ferries, aging infrastructure, and poorly enforced safety standards, critics say.

Flight tracking website Flightradar24.com said the aircraft that disappeared Saturday had lost more than 3,000 meters (10,000 feet) in altitude in less than a minute.

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